[Excerpt] Pure research and applied research play many roles. In pail, pure research contributes to the overall development of science, the slow and gradual process by which knowledge is added “to the ever growing stockpile that constitutes scientific technique and knowledge." As such, scientific pieces contribute largely to the knowledge base of other scientists, who continue an incremental process designed to learn more about how the world works. Applied research has the added goal of making sure research findings have an effect on the way people actually do things. Journals such as the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly play a role here, serving as a forum for communicating applied research findings in a way that may help practitioners develop ideas for what to do differently in practice. But research also serves what I see as an even more critical role in applied settings, that is, myth busting. Research needs to test (and often falsify) the “common sense" theories that many people hold but that, in fact, are not supported by actual data.